Geetika Sharma mother suicide case: Charges against Kanda, Chaddha

A day after Geetika Sharma's mother committed suicide, Delhi police on Saturday slapped charges of abetment of suicide against former Haryana minister Gopal Kanda and his aide Aruna Chaddha after their names figured in her suicide note.

Anuradha Sharma, the mother of former air hostess Geetika Sharma who ended her life blaming Kanda, was found hanging from a ceiling fan in her house in Ashok Vihar area last evening.

Police registered a case and booked Kanda and Chaddha, already in judicial custody in the Geetika Sharma murder case, under Section 306 (abetment of suicide).

Anuradha Sharma in a file photo with her husband and Kanda (left) in a file photo. Image courtesy: Geetika Sharma’s family.

"The suicide note names Kanda and Chaddha. They have booked for abetment of suicide. Investigations are on in this case," a senior police official said.

In her suicide note, Anuradha said she was under depression ever since her daughter's death and blamed Kanda and his aide Aruna Chaddha for Geetika's death.

The official said Anurada had also written a personal letter to her son Ankit Sharma explaining the reasons why she took the extreme step of ending her life. She also asked him to be strong.

He also said the family has not yet told police about any pressure being exerted by Kanda's family on them to withdraw their case against him.

Quoting family members, police sources said Anuradha was under depression and her family members never left her alone since Geetika's death. "They kept a close watch of her inside the house," police said.

The sources also said Ankit had called his mother for lunch yesterday but she refused and told him that they can meet at home in the evening.

However, she came home early from office and ended her life.

Geetika committed suicide in August last year alleging harassment by Kanda, who is currently in jail in connection with the case.

The 23-year-old air hostess, who was employed with the now defunct MDLR Airlines owned by Kanda, was found dead on August 5 last year at her Ashok Vihar residence in North West Delhi.

During police probe, it had emerged that Geetika and her family were very well known to Kanda and his wife and both families had gone on tours and pilgrimage in the country.

Kanda had resigned as Haryana minister of state for home after he was booked in the case and was arrested a fortnight after Geetika committed suicide.

However, Kanda has been reiterating before the court that no case of abetting suicide is made out against him. He also said that Geetika was "hypersensitive".